Sacrifice
by Melissa Black13
Summary: Failsafe AU. What happens when it's a different team member that dies first? Spitfire Three-shot. COMPLETE.
1. Part One

Summary: Failsafe AU. What happens when it's a different team member that dies first? Spitfire Two-shot.

Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice. If I did, I would keep Wally for myself.

**Sacrifice**

_Got ya covered! Get inside! I'm almost there!_

Wally turned at the sound of her voice in his head and watched as she fearlessly charged the incoming ships. She launched a succession of arrows, before retreating back towards the team. But she didn't see how her arrows, usually so straight and true, only hit one of the targets. Wally watched in horror as the other ship crash landed on the snow, fully intact, and swiveled its deadly head straight towards…

_Artemis! Behind you!_

Wally only vaguely registered Megan's frantic mental warning. Suddenly, his feet were moving as he vaulted himself off of the bioship and on to the snow below. He pushed himself faster than he ever had before with only one thought in his mind. _Not her_. Not Artemis, the girl who he sometimes liked, most of the time hated. The girl that sent mini Kid Flashes running around at full speed in his stomach whenever he was in her presence. The girl that never let him get away with anything. His spitfire. _Not her._

Everything happened in a split second, but to him it felt like an eternity as he raced towards her. He watched as Artemis, in slow motion it seemed, pivoted to face the ship again, raising her bow in defense. Wally saw what was going to happen before her though, and he knew what he needed to do. Without hesitation, Wally ran at the blonde archer from the side and pushed her out of the way of the oncoming beam of light.

The last thing that Wally saw was a bright flash of yellow light.

* * *

><p>Once minute Artemis was looking into the face of certain death, and then the next she was flung roughly on to the snow, her bow and arrows sliding across icy ground. Jarred, she looked up just in time to see Wally's body disintegrated right before her very eyes.<p>

"Wally!" Megan's desperate scream pierced the air.

No. He couldn't have. "No…No! Wally!" she cried, reaching out to the spot where he had vanished, as if that would bring the young speedster back. Artemis knew she should get up and grab her bow in order to defend herself but her body was shutting down in shock. Wally, annoying, insufferable, immature Wally, had just pushed her out of the way of the alien's deadly beam, sacrificing himself for her, the replacement team member, the girl he hated. Why? Why would he do that?

Her face was cold and she realized that her tears (when had she started crying?) were freezing on her face as they were falling. Aqualad's strong voice broke through the fog as he commanded them all to the bioship while he took care of the ship. Artemis scrambled back up, grabbing her bow and arrows and joined the rest of the team by the bio ship. The all stood in a stunned silence as Aqualad took made short work of the ship.

"They're dead," came Robin's voice, mingled with despair and fury. "Every last one of them. If it's the last thing I do."

Artemis could feel herself shaking, whether from shock or anger, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that Wally was gone, and he had left this…hole: in the world, in their team, _in her_, that she was sure could never be filled.

"We must get on the bioship," Aqualad urged them all. "There could be more of them about."

He led the way and Robin slumped after him, followed by Superboy who was supporting a distraught Megan. Artemis turned and looked at the spot where Kid Flash had vanished, before reluctantly trudging along after them.

As soon as she entered the bioship and saw the empty seat behind her usual spot, however, she completely lost it. It was almost like an out of body experience. She could feel herself collapsing, but couldn't prevent it from happening. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, but could do nothing to keep them from falling. How she made it to her station, she would never know, but somehow she found herself sobbing against her console, even as Megan guided the ship away.

Wally's death kept playing over and over again in her mind like a bad record. The yellow light encasing his entire form. His body disintegrating right down to his skeleton until there was nothing left. No sign that Kid Flash had ever existed at all. But he had, and as irritating and ridiculous as he was, Wally was so much more than that. He was a science geek. He was loyal and noble; hadn't he just proved that by sacrificing himself for her? He was clumsy, and he was funny and charming when he wanted to be. Why was she just realizing this right now? Why had she fought with him, fought against him, fought her _feelings for him_, for so long? And now he was gone.

"Why?" she asked out loud, her voice piercing across the silent ship. "Why? Why would he do that?"

And then all of a sudden, her sorrow transformed into fury. She slammed her fists with all the strength she had into her console, raging against the world, against Wally for needing to be the hero.

"There will be time to mourn later," Aqualad said, rising from his seat. He was talking to everyone, but she could feel him looking at her. "Now we have a job to do. Defend the Earth and insure that Kid Flash's sacrifice is not in vain."

"Back to the cave?" Megan asked him.

"The Hall of Justice," he corrected. "The human race must know that there are still heroes defending them. There is still hope."

But Artemis, ever the cynic, knew that there was no hope to be had. What were a few teenage kids up against an alien invasion? And later, even when they had found Megan's uncle J'onn, all Artemis felt was a kind of dread, an emptiness inside of her. Then Aqualad and Superboy were gone, and she knew that if Wally had been there in her place, he would have found some way to solve this. He would have come up with something. If it had been him in her place, he wouldn't have been paralyzed with fear upon entering the alien mother ship. He would have stood tall and noble with Robin at his side. And if it had been Wally there instead of her, she was sure that his last thoughts as the mother ship exploded all around him, wouldn't have been of her, like her last thoughts were of him.

The heat from the explosions seared her skin. She was suffocating. Everything was fading to black…

And then she woke up.

* * *

><p>AN: Well, whaddya think? This is my first Young Justice fanfic as I just got into the show like 2 weeks ago. I love the show though and am a HUGE Spitfire shipper! And I've been thinking about this concept since I saw Failsafe and today I was struck by inspiration and just decided to jot this down! Hope you guys like it! No idea when the second part will be up, but hopefully soon.

Please review! XD


	2. Part Two

A/N: Whoaaa, major writer's block trying to finish this. But once I finally got going, I realized I had too much stuff I wanted to put into it, so it has morphed into a three-shot. Hope you guys like it! It gets a little angsty and overly dramatic but I hope I kept everyone in character. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first part! XD

Summary: Failsafe AU. What happens when it's a different team member that dies first? Spitfire Three-shot.

Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice. If I did, I would keep Wally for myself.

**Sacrifice**

_Part Two:_

When Wally woke up, it was not the peaceful way one would wake up after a restful night's sleep. No, one second he was floating in the black nothingness of slumber, and then the next his eyes snapped open and he was panting like he'd just tried to race his Uncle Barry around the world.

He heard a loud gasp. "You're all alive!" a familiar voice exclaimed.

With what seemed like an extraordinary amount of effort, Wally heaved himself off of the stone slab he was laying on. His head was pounding and his memories were all jumbled. The last thing he remembered was…

He tried to look around him but he was blocked by a huge blur of a figure dressed in red, standing in front of him.

"Careful there, Wally," Captain Marvel said, helping the speedster to his feet.

His heart leapt out of his chest at the sound of a familiar groan nearby, and as Wally half stood, half leaned against the slab, he was finally greeted with the sight of Artemis being helped up by Red Tornado. She seemed to be a little worse for wear than him as she was sweating profusely. He could hear the others talking but was only vaguely listening. As confused as he was, Wally only had eyes for the blonde archer to his left. Yes, he remembered the training exercise now, as Batman explained it, but they hadn't been there. They hadn't experienced how real the simulation had been.

As if sensing his eyes honed in on her, Artemis turned her gaze up from the floor to meet his. At first her eyes were soft, and she looked at him with something Wally could only call desperation. Wally gave her a half smile, but that seemed the wrong thing to do as her expression turned cold and she turned away from him.

"But all that changed when Kid Flash sacrificed himself for Artemis," J'onn said gravely.

Wally felt all the eyes on the room on him but he didn't feel the need to drop his gaze. He wasn't embarrassed or ashamed for what he had done. So what if the training exercise wasn't real? Artemis was his teammate; he would have done the same thing for any of them…wouldn't he? So what if the object of his efforts was currently glaring at him like she wished he would drop dead (again)? He had just saved her life! No big deal or anything. It wasn't like he was looking for a thank you (although it would be nice). Wally couldn't even revel in the fact that Megan's reaction to his death had caused all of this in the first place. Not that he could blame her. The whole experience had to have been rather traumatic. And to think, he'd been in a coma for most of it.

J'onn finished explaining what happened and turned to consult with Batman and Red Tornado. Wally turned his attention back to Artemis who was still glaring at him. He was just about to ask her what her deal was, when she turned and left the room without another word. Resisting the urge to shout, "You're welcome!" after her retreating form, he instead made his way over to where Megan was crying against poor Captain Marvel's chest while Superboy stood awkwardly nearby. _This looks like a job for the Wallman_, he thought.

"I'll take it from here, Capt," Wally said confidently.

Megan peeked out from behind Captain Marvel's shoulder and launched herself at him, a fresh way of tears breaking forth. A relieved Captain Marvel flew to the other side of the room. Wally, who normally would have been beyond ecstatic to have the Martian girl in his arms (really what the hell was wrong with him?), patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.

"Aw, come on, babe," he said. "Don't cry. I mean, I'm touched that you feel that strongly for me, but it wasn't real. You know what they say; all's well that ends well, right?"

Over Megan's shoulder, Wally caught a glimpse of Robin comforting Kaldur, who had his head bowed. Robin glanced at Wally suddenly, and Wally was startled by how shaken his best friend looked. What exactly had happened in there after he had been zapped, he wondered.

"You weren't there, Wally," Megan told him, pulling away and wiping some of her tears. "Everything felt so real. One minute you were there and then…and then—"

"And then you were disintegrated right in front of us," Superboy finished. "Just like Wolf," he added, reaching down and petting Wolf on the head.

"It's all my fault," Megan said, her hands going to her forehead. "I should have remembered that it wasn't real. I'm so sorry."

"It was not your fault, M'gann," Kaldur said, joining the conversation. "We were all very upset. I believe our own emotions may have even amplified yours. Artemis' in particular—"

"Artemis?" Wally interjected. "What about her?"

Kaldur hesitated and exchanged glances with Robin. "After you sacrificed yourself for her, Artemis was fairly distraught."

"Heavy on the dis," Robin added, without his usual hint of humor.

"You're pulling my leg, right?" Wally asked, looking at each of them. "_Artemis_, broken up about _my_ death by deadly alien laser beam? Yeah, right. I would've thought she'd be jumping for joy."

Wally actually flinched from the glares being sent his way by his teammates.

"Don't joke, KF," Robin (upbeat, trolling, cackling Robin) said seriously. "Not about this."

They all stood around in an awkward silence, deep in thought. Wally's mind was whirling. Artemis had been upset? She, out of all of his teammates, had reacted the worst? Enough to possibly overwhelm Megan enough to the point of making them all forget the training exercise was just that? Wally found that hard to believe. Sure their relationship was better than it had been originally, and most of the time they got along with little to no bickering, but it wasn't like they were BFFs. Artemis was tough though. He couldn't even picture her being in distress. Had she cried? He tried to put himself in her shoes and was abruptly brought back to that moment when the alien's laser beam had swiveled in her direction and his heart had stopped. And suddenly, Wally was seized with the inexplicable urge to see her and make sure she was okay. And yes, maybe grab her and squeeze her until she made him stop.

"Uh, I gotta go," he said to the others, fumbling for some sort of excuse. "Hungry. You know."

He tried to be casual and walk rather than using his super speed, not knowing that if made him look more suspicious to his teammates than if he had used it.

* * *

><p>She had forced herself to the leave the room as soon as possible because she had been on the verge of doing one of three things: One, slapping the shit out of Wally for being so stupid; two, throwing her arms around the idiot and kissing him like there was no tomorrow (yuck, seriously? she blamed teenage hormones); and three, a combination of one and two that would definitely give him mixed signals. Truth was that while she relished the thought of option number one, deep down, she knew as she sat there watching him ready himself to defend his actions, all she really wanted was option two. So she had stormed out of the room without a word before she did something both of them would regret.<p>

Somehow she ended up taking the back door exit out of the cave. The sandy shores of Happy Harbor greeted her, as did a magnificent sunset. The sight calmed her and she took a deep breath, trying to regain control of her nerves. To say that the training exercise had shook her up would be a gross understatement. Artemis had seen many horrible things in her short life, but somehow seeing Wally being disintegrated in front of her very eyes, especially when it should have been her in his place, well…that had been the worst.

Because no matter how much the young speedster annoyed her, made her want to tear her hair out, made her want to hit him every time he said or did something stupid (which really was all the time), there was still that affection there for him. That part of her that mentally, if not physically, laughed at all his dumb jokes; that part of her that became green with envy when he flirted with M'gann; that part of her that had developed the tiniest of crushes on him when she saw him on TV that first time. It was the same part that had been shattered when Wally had pushed her out of the way.

_It wasn't real_, Artemis told herself, sitting down in the sand Indian style. It was pleasantly warm for the middle of October, but Artemis felt a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature. She pulled her jacket tighter around her. There was no unseeing what had happened. She felt like she would be forced to replay it over and over in her head, in her nightmares.

She heard a freak wind behind her and knew it was Wally without having to look.

"Finally," Wally said. "I've been looking all over for you."

Artemis shrugged. "Been here the whole time," she said. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," he said, his voice a little unsure. Artemis sneaked a look at him. He had his hands in his pockets and was kicking at the sand absentmindedly. She almost didn't hear him when he mumbled quickly, "Just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Artemis felt the ice around her heart melt a little bit before it hardened over again. She was just so…angry with him! Who did he think he was, saving her like that? Sacrificing himself for her? Had she _asked_ him to do that? No! No one, with maybe the exception of her mom would miss her, but Wally? Wally had parents that loved him and would be absolutely devastated, not to mention how close he was with his Uncle Barry and the other members of the Team. He couldn't just go around and play the self-sacrificing hero when he had people who loved and cared about him.

"Yeah, well, as you can see, I'm _fine_," Artemis snapped, turning to face the water again. "So, why don't you run along back inside."

There was a stunned silence between them, and, for a moment, Artemis thought he had actually listened to her for once. Her relief was short-lived, however.

"What is your problem?" Wally demanded, suddenly appearing on the sand in front of her. She stubbornly looked in the opposite direction. "I mean, is it really so hard to say thank you? 'Thank you, Wally. Thanks for saving my life.' See, I did it. Easy."

Artemis abruptly stood up and Wally stumbled back as she bore down on him. "Thank you?" she repeated incredulously. "That's what you want to hear? Is that what'll make you leave me alone? Then, _thank you_, Wally. Thank you, _ever so much_!"

"You're welcome!" he retorted. At this point the notion of personal space had been thrown out the proverbial window. They were essentially nose to nose, their chests panting with exertion. All was quiet except for the sounds of their harsh breathing and the distant crashing of the waves on the shore. Until;

"I need to know why. Why did you do it?"

* * *

><p>AN: Yeah, that's right, I'm ending it there. But no worries, I've got the ended mostly written. Like I said, angsty and dramatic right? Anyway, please, please review and let me know what you think! XD

~Melissa


	3. Part Three

A/N: Yayyy, finally got Part Three up! Thank you all so much for your reviews, your favorites, and your story alerts! Everyone single one means so much to me! I really hope you enjoy this last part with is both angsty and fluffy! Please review! XD

Summary: Failsafe AU. What happens when it's a different team member that dies first? Spitfire Three-shot.

Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice. If I did, I would keep Wally for myself.

**Sacrifice**

_Part Three:_

"I need to know why. Why did you do it?"

Wally gaped at her and took a step back. Artemis pulled her jacket closer again as the warmth of his body heat faded away. He seemed to be searching for the right words, and Artemis would have laughed at the thought of him actually thinking before he spoke for once if the situation hadn't been so serious.

"It wasn't some thought out thing, all right?" he finally said. "I just reacted."

"Yeah, well, it was the wrong reaction," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ugh! How can you even say that?" Wally asked, nearly pulling his hair out in frustration. "You're my teammate. You think I want to see you get hurt? Get killed?"

"I can take care of myself, Wally," Artemis said firmly, like his words weren't making her knees weak (stupid knees). "I'm not some damsel in distress." She wasn't going to say anything else but the words spilled out of her. "Besides, you don't know how it felt."

She turned her back on him before he could see the tears forming in her eyes. She shouldn't be this weak. She shouldn't even care. But she did and that was the problem. Artemis thought about running away from this conversation, but she knew he would follow her.

Artemis felt his hand on her shoulder and flinched away, but he kept it there. "I don't regret it," he said quietly. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

"And that's exactly what I'm afraid of!" she exclaimed, tearing her shoulder out of his grip and spinning around to face him. "You don't get it, Wally. It should have been _me_! I'm no one. You have all these people who know and love you. Who's going to care if _I_ die?"

"I—, the Team would," Wally stuttered. But then he stopped and looked at her square in the eye. "You know, what? Screw it, _I_ would. _I_ would care, Artemis. You think I don't know how it felt? You think my heart didn't stop at the sight of you in that ship's crosshairs? I did what I did because I couldn't bear the alternative! You're just going to have to accept the fact that I give a crap about what happens to you!"

There was a moment of silence where they just stared each other down, and then suddenly, his lips were on hers and he was kissing her with reckless abandon. Quickly getting over the shock, she responded eagerly, running her fingers through his ginger hair. His lips were soft and warm and his hands wrapped themselves tightly around her waist, cradling her against him. The kiss was fueled by desperation, but was full of passion. It was…the perfect kiss. His mouth seemed to move against hers forever until they finally separated with a last gentle caress.

They rested their foreheads against each other for a moment, trying to catch their breath. When Artemis opened her eyes again, Wally's green ones bore into hers with a vulnerability that she hadn't thought was possible for the young speedster. She decided to take pity on him and pulled him into another quick kiss so that he would have no doubts about her feelings. She let go of him, sliding her hands down until they gripped his. Wally's stunned expression transformed into a sheepish grin.

"I've been wanting to do that since Bialya," he told her.

A sudden thought popped into her head and she let go of one of his hands to cuff him on the shoulder.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"If you've been wanting to do that since Bialya, then why do you keep flirting with M'gann all the time?"

The idiot then had the nerve to smirk. "Why? Are you jealous?"

She wound up to hit him again, but he was quick to backtrack. "Okay, okay! Kidding!" He scratched the back of his head as he thought about it. "I don't know. I liked you, but I didn't want you to know I liked you? I guess I kind of used M'gann as a cover for that."

"Good answer, Baywatch," Artemis said, snuggling (since when was she a snuggler?) back into Wally's (the Wallman, Kid Idiot, the human garbage disposal, seriously what was she thinking?) arms.

* * *

><p>They stood in a content silence for a few minutes, just watching the sun go down. Wally could hardly believe his luck. Sure, he was super smooth with the ladies and had them practically falling at his feet, but to have Artemis, one of the hottest girls he knew (phew, it was a relief to be able to admit that now), in his arms with no signs of pulling away? He had to have done something good in a prior life (not that he believed in that sort of stuff).<p>

No matter how much he had protested her presence in the past, there had always been a part of Wally that had admired the blonde archer. She was brave, strong, and intelligent, not to mention she was gorgeous. That uniform of hers left little to the imagination (and as a 15 year old, hormone driven male, he had quite the imagination). She knew exactly what to say to get him wound up, and she always called him on his crap when no one else would. And maybe that's what he needed in his life. Artemis interrupted his musings when she pulled away from him.

"Wally, we need to talk about what happened today," she said, giving him and indiscernible look.

"Really?" he asked, trying to pull her back towards him. "'Cause I can think of something else we can do that's more fun."

"Hold that thought, Kid Casanova," she said, keeping him at bay (he was really going to have to work on his technique with this one). "I'm serious here, Wally. What happened today in the training exercise _can't_ happen again. You have to promise me that you won't play the hero whenever you think I'm in trouble. I don't want that."

"Can't make any promises, Beautiful," Wally told her. "Like I said before, you're just going to have to accept it."

"I don't need you to protect me," she insisted.

"Everyone needs someone to watch their back," Wally reasoned, attempting to pull her back into his arms again. He felt victorious when she didn't fight him this time. "I'll just be watching yours _extra_ closely," he finished, throwing in a suggestive eyebrow wiggle for good measure.

She rolled her eyes. "You're a pervert."

"Yeah, but I'm your pervert now," he countered cheekily. When she didn't respond immediately, he became worried. "I mean, I am, right?"

She was silent again for a moment, staring out into space before looking up at him. "I have a lot of secrets, Wally," she all but whispered. "Some bad and some worse. And I need to know that you won't freak out when you hear them. And that you'll let me reveal them in my own time."

Her words made him nervous, but he was careful not to let that show. She was looking at him with the most vulnerable expression on her face, like she was counting on him, and although that scared him, he knew that when the time finally came for her to make her secrets known, he would stand by her side.

"I'll be there for you, Beautiful," he promised. "Whatever you need."

She sighed like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Thank you," she said, before wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

It was a great moment. Or it would have been had Wally's stomach not chosen that moment to growl in displeasure. Wally grimaced. He felt Artemis chuckling against his shoulder and pulled back to look at her. Luckily for him she was smiling, and he thought she'd never looked more radiant than she did right now with the setting sun as her backdrop.

"Been in a coma for a few hours. What can I say?"

"You are seriously a bottomless pit," Artemis said, poking him in the stomach. Her gray eyes sparkled with amusement. "But, I guess you're _my_ bottomless pit."

"Damn right, I am," Wally said, slinging an arm around her shoulders and steering her in the direction of the Cave. "You're with the Wallman now, babe. I think it's safe to say you're one of the luckiest girls in the world."

"You're pushing it there, Baywatch."

"Duly noted."

* * *

><p>AN: Well, I'm ending it there because I knew that anything else I would have written would have been overly sappy and possibly gag worthy. But what do you guys think? Please, please, please review and tell me!

~ Melissa


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